SPCA President Arrested After Freeing Dog Chained To Car

(WPTV) A Florida animal activist was booked into jail after he says he tried to save a dog that had been left alone and in intense heat in a supermarket parking lot.

Indian River County S.P.C.A. President Van DeMars took cell phone video of the incident last week.

"This is how dogs end up dying and getting sick," he can be heard saying on the recording. "He's panting," DeMars said of the dog. "This is what happens when they first start to get into heat stress."

Afternoon temperatures were above 90 degrees as DeMars says he stumbled upon the animal in a northern Sebastian Publix supermarket parking lot. The dog was tethered to an SUV and sitting on the asphalt with no owner in sight.

"He was literally choking himself, trying to get under the car," said DeMars speaking a Tuesday, several days after the incident.

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